Head of Digital Performance Marketing

We are searching for a Head of Digital Performance Marketing to lead a team of 12 and drive measurable growth across long conversion funnels in Google Ads, email nurturing, and social channels. 

Studyportals Headquarters is in Strijp-S, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Flexibility to work remotely 3 days per week. 

About Studyportals

Every month we help millions of students make one of the most important decisions of their lives, for free. 

Every minute, more than 100 students around the world use our platforms, such as mastersportal.com, to find the education that fits them best. They do this for free, often at a moment when they feel uncertain, overwhelmed, or afraid of making the wrong choice. 

Our mission is simple and ambitious: to help millions of students find the right study, and to help universities build more diverse, successful, and engaged classrooms. By matching the right student to the right programme, we help reduce dropouts and create better outcomes for everyone involved. 

Our team consists of more than 200 people, representing over 40 nationalities. We are curious, direct, and kind. We care deeply about personal growth, honest collaboration, and building things that actually help people. 

Why are we searching for you? 

We are scaling our digital marketing fast, but our conversion journeys are long and complex. We need someone who can lead a team, replace short-term KPIs with smart proxy metrics like value per lead, and improve ROI across Google Ads, email nurturing, and social channels while helping us win the shift from traditional search to AI-driven discovery. 

What are your three main goals? 

• Build a reliable performance model for long conversion journeys  

• Increase ROI across paid and owned channels using data, automation, and AI 

• Prepare and position Studyportals for AI-driven discovery and marketing 

How does your team look like? 

You will lead a digital marketing team of 12 people and have seven direct reports. You report directly to Emiel, our CPTO, just one step away from the CEO, which means short decision lines and fast decision-making. 

One of your direct reports is Anna, who leads the core digital marketing team. She brings energy and structure and works closely with Manuela, who is calm and reliable, Melis, who is curious and eager to experiment, Lidia, based in Romania and highly driven, and Iris, who is extremely data-savvy and loves deep dives into numbers. Together, they run our day-to-day digital marketing across channels. 

You also directly manage Chris, our growth hacker, who is always looking to automate and scale, Besan, who brings focus and ambition to email nurturing, Jessica, our creative social media specialist, Tonya, who is sharp and honest, and Kinga, our talented intern supporting content and socials. 

You work closely with Daniel and Andrei, who build and optimise client landing pages with a strong focus on conversion from our portals to qualified leads. 

The role of AI in this position 

AI is not an experiment or a side topic in this role. You are expected to continuously follow the latest developments in AI and translate them into concrete improvements in how we do digital marketing. 

You actively introduce new AI-driven ways to automate processes, improve decision-making, and maximize results across Google Ads, email nurturing, and social channels. This includes using AI to better understand long conversion journeys, improve targeting and bidding strategies, improve conversion ratios, and scale experimentation without increasing complexity. 

More importantly, you bring a clear vision on how AI will change marketing and advertising in the coming years. You help shape how Studyportals wins in a world where traditional search, attribution, and advertising models are being reshaped by AI-driven discovery. You do not just react to change; you help define our direction. 

Requirements

• At least 7+ years of experience in digital marketing, including proven leadership experience in managing and developing teams

• Strong strategic and analytical skills, able to turn data into clear plans and make decisions in long and complex conversion funnels

• Pro-active mindset, able to spot opportunities, suggest improvements, and take initiative without waiting for detailed instructions

• Social and people-oriented by nature, energetic, respectful, and able to build trust and positive team dynamics. 

• Able to convince others, sell a story, and activate teams and stakeholders to move in the same direction

• Fluent in English, with strong communication skills, comfortable presenting ideas, giving and receiving critique, and aligning stakeholders

Benefits

• Competitive salary including a bonus and pension

• 32 vacation days (including bank holidays) and you have the flexibility to take your holidays whenever you want (e.g., be off on Chinese New Year instead of King’s Day)  
• Possibility to buy/sell 5 vacation days out of your annual balance  

• Reimbursement of your work-related travel costs

• Flexibility to work remotely 3 days per week, including a remote working allowance. 

• Possibility to work from abroad 2 times a year

• An annual personal development budget because personal growth is KEY! 

• A nice and fun office in the heart of Eindhoven; five minutes’ walk away from the station - take an insiders’ perspective here.  
• The opportunity to make our world a little better by increasing international access to education and being at the core of a study choice giant that the world education market is desperately waiting for  
• Studyportals is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), promoting equal access to education while minimizing our environmental impact through digital innovation and responsible operations